Photos
30 Jan - 05 May 2013
PHOTOS
30 January - 5 May 2013
How do things stand when it comes to Austrian photography, what is its status quo?
The exhibition Photos - Points of view in Austrian Photography from the 1930s until today, on view at the 21er Haus from 30 January 2013, is an attempt to answer this query. The focus will less be on the individual protagonists of the country’s vibrantly active photography scene than on their motifs, by way of which we can access the current discourse in the arts in a nonchalant, associative fashion. The selection of works is based on three essential motifs: objects, people, and photography as such. Still-life photography ranging from historical to contemporary examples reveals a distinct perspective of everyday objects, thereby not least reflecting a retirement into private life. These works alternate with depictions of people and their gazes: snapshots of small gestures exposing interpersonal and characteristic moments, which in turn are complemented by images dealing with photography per se. These three principal motifs stand for the defining parameters of photography – object and subject and how they interrelate – in terms of either documentation or artistic merit. The exhibits address the age-old issue of effigy, the authenticity of the image, but also that of the camera’s objectivity, in an up-to-date form. The exhibition is about people, the things which surround them, the way in which people relate to them, and about the lens that is in between of all this – the eye of Austrian photography that seeks to capture what it sees.
30 January - 5 May 2013
How do things stand when it comes to Austrian photography, what is its status quo?
The exhibition Photos - Points of view in Austrian Photography from the 1930s until today, on view at the 21er Haus from 30 January 2013, is an attempt to answer this query. The focus will less be on the individual protagonists of the country’s vibrantly active photography scene than on their motifs, by way of which we can access the current discourse in the arts in a nonchalant, associative fashion. The selection of works is based on three essential motifs: objects, people, and photography as such. Still-life photography ranging from historical to contemporary examples reveals a distinct perspective of everyday objects, thereby not least reflecting a retirement into private life. These works alternate with depictions of people and their gazes: snapshots of small gestures exposing interpersonal and characteristic moments, which in turn are complemented by images dealing with photography per se. These three principal motifs stand for the defining parameters of photography – object and subject and how they interrelate – in terms of either documentation or artistic merit. The exhibits address the age-old issue of effigy, the authenticity of the image, but also that of the camera’s objectivity, in an up-to-date form. The exhibition is about people, the things which surround them, the way in which people relate to them, and about the lens that is in between of all this – the eye of Austrian photography that seeks to capture what it sees.